Bezos is shown at the introduction of the new Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite personal devices in Santa Monica, Calif., Sept. 6, 2012.

Bezos and wife Mackenzie arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations" exhibition in New York, May 7, 2012.

REUTERS

Bezos introduces the Kindle Touch at a news conference in New York, Sept. 28, 2011. The e-reader and tablet has a 7-inch multicolor touchscreen.

Bezos shows a Kindle in Cupertino, Calif., Oct. 6, 2009. Amazon had just introduced Kindle, its wireless electronic reader, in more than 100 countries, including China and most of Europe and intensifed a battle for the burgeoning digital book market.

REUTERS

Bezos (right) talks with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of The New York Times, at a news conference in New York, May 6, 2009. Bezos introduced the Kindle DX, which has a larger 9.7-inch screen than its predecessor, the Kindle 2.

Bezos holds a copy of "Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies" by Douglas Hofstadter -- the first book sold online by Amazon.com -- on June 17, 2005 at the company's headquarters in Seattle. He is next to a table that shows only a small sampling of nonbook items that was available on Amazon.com at the time, including boxing gloves, a heart defibrillator, kitchen and electronics equipment and clothing items.

Bezos holds the company's first sign, quickly spray-painted prior to an interview in 1995, March 11, 2004.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (left) and Bezos speak during an exhibition hosted by Time magazine commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Person of the Year, June 3, 2002. Gingrich and Bezos appeared on the cover of Time in 1995 and 1999, respectively.

Bezos prepares for a ride in a human bowling ball during the Amazon.com Toy Quest Saturday, Dec. 4, 1999. Twenty young toy inventors were selected to compete as finalists for a commitment from Amazon.com to manufacture and sell their toys.

Bezos holds a large, stuffed Pokemon doll as he addresses a news conference in New York, Nov. 9, 1999. At the time, Amazon.com was trying to build itself into an online superstore, expanding into both software and hardware.

Bezos, recently named Time magazine's Person of the Year, demonstrates an educational toy to talk show host Jay Leno, Dec. 29, 1999. The toy, which allows children to pull out the doll's internal organs, is one of the new items featured on Bezos's Internet superstore.

REUTERS

Bezos and Diana Brooks, CEO of Sotheby's, speak at a news conference in New York on June 16, 1999, where they discussed the creation of a joint online auction site, sothebys.amazon.com.